The Last Supper: Gordon Warnecke on the perfect jerk chicken
Star of 1980s movie My Beautiful Laundrette, Gordon Warnecke tells us what he would eat for his last meal on earth
My mum wasn’t a very good cook. My first memories of food are of her making quite traditional British stuff. She came over from Guyana in South America, where she was the youngest of five siblings – her elder sisters did all the cooking so she never learned. She moved over to England at the Windrush time and she learned the British way to make food, which was a bit bland.
I remember my American auntie bought my mum a pressure cooker, which was the death of good cooking. I’d be upstairs doing my homework and there would be that smell of overcooked beef or casseroles. That smell has always remained with me. Thankfully a lot of our friends came from different countries – the West Indies, Germany – and we all had each other over for dinner. That’s when my palate started to change. I remember the first time I had a proper curry, up in Rochdale. I was doing my first acting job and an older Asian actress took me to an Indian restaurant. Suddenly my tastebuds were like, ‘Wow!’ I’d never had anything like that before.
I started to explore cooking at home when I was in my twenties, after I got my first job. My partner is brilliant, she’ll just grab anything from the cupboard and come up with something amazing. We watch cookery programmes together but I go by the book. Some people just throw stuff in but if it says half a teaspoon of salt, I’ll add half a teaspoon of salt. My favourite dishes to cook, because of my mum’s background, are West Indian. I’m always watching programmes on West Indian cooking.
I’m going to combine my last meal with a few things in life I love. I’m a sad Arsenal fan so I’m going to have the first course in a box at the Emirates. I’d invite my son, my partner Hilary and a few Gooner celebs: Sam Mendes, Nick Hornby and Gwyneth Strong from Only Fools and Horses. Back in the day I used to go to Joe Allen’s in Covent Garden, sit at the bar and have a large bloody mary and a few chicken wings, so I’d start my meal with those.
I’m a sad Arsenal fan so I’m going to have the first course in a box at the Emirates. I’d invite Gooner celebs Sam Mendes and Nick Hornby
Next I’m going to jump on a plane and fly to a private beach in Turkey, where I’m going to have jerk chicken, which I’d make myself from scratch. I’m a big fan of jerk chicken with a nice salsa salad on the side. I’m diabetic so I don’t always have rice and peas: chicken and plantain is all you really need. Everything’s got to be fresh and you need to use the correct spices: pimento, scotch bonnet, spring onions, garlic, ginger, light soy sauce, a splash of lime, mix it all up, and marinade the chicken overnight. A lot of people put the chicken straight on the barbecue but I think that’s dodgy – it has to be cooked through first. Even though it’s my last night on earth I’ll still play it safe.
Then I’ll fly to Florida for some good bluegrass music, silver sand, and a big American-style cheesecake with blueberries. I’d get it from a bakery: I’m not very good at baking. The only place I’ve found that’s similar to Florida is Liverpool. I just love the people. You cannot walk into a bar without somebody talking to you, but you don’t feel afraid or anything. In London if someone starts talking to you, you’ve got to be careful, but in Liverpool they’re just lovely people. It’s like a republic, it’s got its own identity. I would finish off the meal with a nice, large, really good scotch with one lump of ice and toast humanity.
• Gordon stars in a new short film called Pink, the story of a young man who comes out to his bank robber father